California Family Health Council

A health agency effectively denied a request from San Bernardino County on Thursday to end the distribution of morning-after contraceptive pills at county health clinics, a move expected to draw the Bush administration into a volatile debate over women's rights.

A health agency effectively denied a request from San Bernardino County on Thursday to end the distribution of morning-after contraceptive pills at county health clinics, a move expected to draw the Bush administration into a volatile debate over women's rights.

Contraception could move into the Space Age with the initiation in nine U.S. cities--including Los Angeles and San Francisco--of a yearlong trial to study the reliability of an over-the-counter electronic birth control method. New York-based Unipath Diagnostics Co. has recruited about half of the 300 couples it needs in Los Angeles to study the electronic monitor that measures two hormones in a woman's urine to determine when she's fertile and should abstain from sex.

Five Los Angeles-area social service agencies have received grants totaling $1.2 million from the California Community Foundation, which is creating educational programs to help prevent teenage pregnancies. The foundation, established by the Audrey Backus estate last year, will eventually provide $16 million for teen programs as well as elder care. The agencies receiving grants announced this week were: the Asian Pacific Health Care Venture in Hollywood, the Bienvenidos Children's Center Inc.

American Red Cross needs volunteers to assist blood donors with registration forms and to serve refreshments after they have given blood. A three- to five-hour shift, once a month, is required. Information: South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach Volunteer Center, (310) 212-5009. * Windsor Gardens, a nursing facility in Los Angeles, needs volunteers to help with resident activities, social services and nursing assistance. Information: Pamela, (323) 937-5466.

The Valley Community Clinic in North Hollywood is among five Los Angeles-area social service agencies that received grants totaling $1.2 million from the California Community Foundation, which is creating educational programs to prevent teen pregnancies. The foundation, established last year by the Audrey Backus estate, will eventually provide $16 million for teen programs and elder care. The other agencies receiving grants announced Tuesday are the Bienvenidos Children's Center, Inc.

What is at once glamorous and conscientious, artful yet utilitarian, safe but oh-so-sexy? It is the lowly condom, when it's all dressed up to go out in high-fashion packets designed by and for cool young Californians. Starting this month, more than 150,000 avant-garde condom covers--the result of a statewide art contest--will be distributed by the Los Angeles County Sexually Transmitted Disease Program and federally funded family planning clinics throughout the state.